The opening of the UK's borders to newer members of the European Union, has been and gone with little in the way of panic (Andreou, 2014). Considering the furore that was whipped up in fear of a flood of immigrants, it was quite an anti-climax.
That should not have been a surprise. Reducing any complex social system to such simplistic terms is always a mistake, and economics is amongst the most complex. Problems like slow growth or unemployment are not going to be solved by curbing immigration. And, worse, such scapegoating is only going to be a distraction that prevents people asking the questions that need to be asked, of the people who need to be challenged over their policies.
The latest variation of a British anti-immigration narrative has been erected in the background of the Conservative Party's pursuit of co-ordinated policies aimed at altering the balance of the relationship between workers and employers. Right now the Conservatives - through repatriation of powers, anti-open borders, anti-welfare (Goodman, 2013; Kirkup & Dominiczak, 2013; Pring, 2013) - are seeking to reduce the power of workers to take away the limitations on business owners and investors upon whom the conservative idea of economy depends.
The anti-immigration narrative, joined to the anti-welfare narrative behind things like Benefits Street, have frequently turned attention away from the Conservative economic model's ongoing failure to address a weak economy and slow recovery, and towards the working class and immigrants (Void, 2013; Mason, 2014). That narrative has encouraged people to ignore the real powerbrokers, and to turn the blame instead on individuals, or groups, who live their lives on society's bottom rung - all the while ignoring the fact that those people lack any real influence on the economy at large.
Not only are those prejudices grossly unfair, it also fatally distracts people. It distracts them from asking questions of those who have a real influence and can't, or won't, solve the problems that lead to symptoms like unemployment, poverty and crime.
And questions need to be asked of those policies.
The aims of the Conservative economic model that wishes to take away the limitations on business owners and investors depends, unfortunately, upon the suppression and control of working people for its success. Policies, like the closing of borders, just traps people. They prevent people from escaping bad working conditions, from escaping the lack of minimum or living wages and rights, and from escaping bad employers. The limitations on business owners are reduced, but only at the cost of the safeguards put in place to protect workers.
No one issue is ever going to be the key to economic success, and banning immigration is never going to be a miracle solution. Reducing matters to such simplistic terms will only breed resentment, while the resulting scapegoating of a group of people will distract from the failure to produce sound and uncontroversial solutions.
==========
References:
==========
+ Alex Andreou's 'The immigration invasion that never was'; in The Guardian; 2 January 2014.
+ Paul Goodman's 'David Cameron can’t count on the Tory truce over the EU lasting'; in The Telegraph; 14 October 2013.
+ James Kirkup & Peter Dominiczak 'David Cameron in pledge to restrict benefits for immigrants'; in The Telegraph; 27 November 2013.
+ John Pring's 'Government's new workfare scheme is 'unethical' and 'unworkable''; in Disability News Service; 3 October 2013.
+ Channel 4's 'Benefits Street'; 6 January 2014
+ Johnny Void's 'The latest benefit fraud crackdown is a grim sign of the times'; 17 September 2013.
+ Rowena Mason's 'Nigel Farage backs 'basic principle' of Enoch Powell's immigration warning'; in The Guardian; 5 January 2014.
No comments:
Post a Comment